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						<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en"><span dir="auto">Panorama formats</span></h1>
						<div id="bodyContent">
								<div id="siteSub">From PanoTools.org Wiki</div>
								
												
				<div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr"><p>The format of a panorama is defined in broad terms by the <a href="Projections.html" title="Projections">projection</a> used to map the full or partial 3D scene onto a 2 dimensional print or screen.
There are several types of projections in use:
</p>
<div id="toc" class="toc"><div id="toctitle"><h2>Contents</h2></div>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Full_Spherical_Formats"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Full Spherical Formats</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Equirectangular"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Equirectangular</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Cubic"><span class="tocnumber">1.2</span> <span class="toctext">Cubic</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#.22Little_Planet.22"><span class="tocnumber">1.3</span> <span class="toctext">"Little Planet"</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Partial_Formats"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Partial Formats</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Cylindrical"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Cylindrical</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Arc_formed"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Arc formed</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Rectilinear"><span class="tocnumber">2.3</span> <span class="toctext">Rectilinear</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="Panorama_formats.html#Partial_Spherical"><span class="tocnumber">2.4</span> <span class="toctext">Partial Spherical</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Full_Spherical_Formats">Full Spherical Formats</span></h3>
<p>There are two main spherical formats: <a href="Equirectangular.html" title="Equirectangular" class="mw-redirect">Equirectangular</a> and <a href="Cubic_Projection.html" title="Cubic Projection">Cubic</a>. Both are able to display the whole sphere that surrounds us - 360° along the horizon, 90° up and 90° down. Specialized viewers<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_Viewers">[*]</a> are needed to view spherical panoramas.
</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Equirectangular.JPG" width="250" height="125" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Equirectangular.JPG">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Equirectangular.JPG">[*]</a></div>equirectangular panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Equirectangular">Equirectangular</span></h4>
<p>The equirectangular format is widely used by a couple of Panorama Viewers<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/Panorama_Viewers">[*]</a> as for example PTViewer<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/PTViewer">[*]</a> and SPi-V<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/SPi-V">[*]</a>. It consists of a single image with an <a href="Aspect_Ratio.html" title="Aspect Ratio">aspect ratio</a> of 2:1 (that is, the width must be exactly twice the height).
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</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Cubic.jpg" width="250" height="188" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Cubic.jpg">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Cubic.jpg">[*]</a></div>cubic panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Cubic">Cubic</span></h4>
<p>The <a href="Cubic_Projection.html" title="Cubic Projection">cubic</a> format uses 6 cube faces to fill the whole sphere around us. The image is remapped to the cubefaces which fit seamlessly. 
</p><p>One very wide spread cubic format is QuickTime<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/Quicktime">[*]</a> VR. It consists of one file containing the 6 faces as <a href="JPEG.html" title="JPEG">JPEG</a> compressed images together with a header giving basic information how the panorama should be displayed.
</p><p>Another cubic format is used by SPi-V<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/SPi-V">[*]</a>. It consists of the 6 cubefaces in a single row or column. SPi-V<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/SPi-V">[*]</a> treats any image with an <a href="Aspect_Ratio.html" title="Aspect Ratio">aspect ratio</a> of exactly 6:1 as a cubic spherical panorama.
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</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Little_planet.jpg" width="250" height="250" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Little_planet.jpg">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Little_planet.jpg">[*]</a></div>Little planet remapping example &#169; Erik Krause</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id=".22Little_Planet.22">"Little Planet"</span></h4>
<p>This is an unusal format that remaps a full sphere such that the ground looks like if it was a little planet. See Unusual remappings<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/Unusual_remappings#Little_planet">[*]</a> for details.<br style="clear:both;" />
</p>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Partial_Formats">Partial Formats</span></h3>
<p>There is a number of possibilities to display partial panoramas - these are panoramas that don't fill the whole sphere in one or the other way. Partial panoramas can be displayed directly if they don't cover more than approximately 120° along the shorter side (that is they can be 360° in one direction but must be 120° or less in the other direction). The main formats are <a href="Cylindrical_Projection.html" title="Cylindrical Projection">Cylindrical</a> and <a href="Rectilinear_Projection.html" title="Rectilinear Projection">Rectilinear</a>, but partial spherical panoramas are possible, too.
</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Cylindrical.JPG" width="250" height="125" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Cylindrical.JPG">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Cylindrical.JPG">[*]</a></div>cylindrical panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Cylindrical">Cylindrical</span></h4>
<p><a href="Cylindrical_Projection.html" title="Cylindrical Projection">Cylindrical</a> panoramas can show a full circle along the horizon or a part of it. They are very popular for landscape panoramas. If used for architectural subjects it might be of bother that horizontal lines (except the horizon itself) are bent.
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</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Orientation-plate.jpg" width="250" height="86" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Orientation-plate.jpg">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Orientation-plate.jpg">[*]</a></div>Arc formed panorama example &#169; Erik Krause</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Arc_formed">Arc formed</span></h4>
<p>A special type of a <a href="Cylindrical_Projection.html" title="Cylindrical Projection">Cylindrical Projection</a> where the panorama is arched like on common orientation plates. See details on Unusual remappings<a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/Unusual_remappings#Orientation_plate_.28arc.29">[*]</a>.<br style="clear:both;" />
</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Rectlinear.JPG" width="250" height="140" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Rectlinear.JPG">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Rectlinear.JPG">[*]</a></div>rectilinear panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Rectilinear">Rectilinear</span></h4>
<p><a href="Rectilinear_Projection.html" title="Rectilinear Projection">Rectilinear</a> panoramas display the subject just like an ordinary (non-fisheye) lens would do. The horizontal and vertical field of view are limited to about 120°. Straight lines stay straight, hence they are good for architectural subjects. But if either field of view is too large they suffer from unnatural looking distortions in the corners.
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</p>
<div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:252px;"><img alt="" src="250px-Equirectangular_cut.jpg" width="250" height="125" class="thumbimage" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Equirectangular_cut.jpg">[*]</a>  <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><img src="magnify-clip.png" width="15" height="11" alt="" /><a class="external" href="http://wiki.panotools.org/File:Equirectangular_cut.jpg">[*]</a></div>cutted equirectangular panorama format</div></div></div>
<h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Partial_Spherical">Partial Spherical</span></h4>
<p>To partial spherical panoramas applies basically the same as to full sphericals (see above). In most cases they are used to cut off <a href="Zenith.html" title="Zenith">Zenith</a> or <a href="Nadir.html" title="Nadir">Nadir</a>. Vertical field of view has to be limited in this case to prevent the viewer from misinterpreting the source images.
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